I wonder if a large collection of ebooks that have had their DRM removed were to be donated to a library, if there would be an issue?

No issue at all. It's just that the estate of the deceased would be liable to pay damages for copyright theft, the executors of the will would be liable to imprisonment for ditto if they actually made the transfer of the illegally altered files and any library that accepted them would find itself the subject of a lawsuit.

I think the legal situation would likely be similar in the US, but even assuming that the ebooks were all in the public domain, I would think that most libraries would not have the technological capability of loaning out ebooks in the way you are talking about. Most libraries use Overdrive right now, which (as I understand it) basically provides the lending service for the library. Most libraries would probably not want to take the trouble or expense of setting up their own individual lending service for ebooks.

I think the legal situation would likely be similar in the US, but even assuming that the ebooks were all in the public domain, I would think that most libraries would not have the technological capability of loaning out ebooks in the way you are talking about. Most libraries use Overdrive right now, which (as I understand it) basically provides the lending service for the library. Most libraries would probably not want to take the trouble or expense of setting up their own individual lending service for ebooks.

If they were public domain, there wouldn't need to be any special loaning procedure. Just make them available and let people download them without restrictions. You wouldn't even need the Library, actually.

If they were public domain, there wouldn't need to be any special loaning procedure. Just make them available and let people download them without restrictions. You wouldn't even need the Library, actually.

I agree, obviously there are plenty of places to get free public domain ebooks (like on this forum!). I was just pointing out to the OP that a library probably would not be interested in lending non-DRM ebooks in the way he suggests, regardless of the legal situation of the books themselves.

I agree, obviously there are plenty of places to get free public domain ebooks (like on this forum!). I was just pointing out to the OP that a library probably would not be interested in lending non-DRM ebooks in the way he suggests, regardless of the legal situation of the books themselves.